We have been exposed to the modern way of thinking about
addiction. It's a constant mantra, a drum beat and it is overwhelming,
whether you agree with it or not. We see the party line forwarded in
articles, books, TV, movies, celeb meltdowns and of course at the local
AA and NA meetings. The concept has become so engrained in all aspects
of addiction that even those who do not wish to buy into it find
themselves ostracized and at a loss for other ways to get help.
The message: Addiction is a disease.
Now, that would not be so bad if it were really true and if a workable 'treatment' for such a disease was readily available. But there is no real, effective treatment in most rehabs today. The standard disease model therapy adopted by 95% of all rehab centers across the US is 12 step. This, by statistics we can find at the AMA website and other medical journal studies, suggests a top end success rate of about 10%. That's beyond the definition of a failure. It's more in line with criminal deception.
How is it that placebos using sugar pills for nearly any other 'disease' record much higher success rates than 12 step? And where did this idea of drug and alcohol addiction as a disease come from? Most evidence points toward the psychiatric fields in medicine that lobbied over many years to gain equal mental health funding. Documents show a long and insidious campaign of using PR campaigns and redefinition of words in books, articles and other texts in order to put a new label on addiction.
And with that in mind, this indoctrination of addiction as a disease starts to make a bit more sense. Many other aspects of medical treatment in America have fallen for "there is more money is in the treatment than in the cure"; so why not drug rehab?
Calling the abuse of drugs or alcohol a disease opens a floodgate of funding from government aid, disability, insurance and other sources. This represents billions of dollars going toward mental health and pharmaceutical providers that otherwise would have never seen such revenue streams. Worse, because it is considered an incurable disease, people with addictions are constantly churning in the system in one form or another until they either overdose, wind up in jail or lose their lives to illness as a result of unhandled addictions.
Non 12 step rehab facilities are working to change all that.
Non 12 step drug rehab programs routinely document success rates that are somewhere in the neighborhood of 75-80%. The most powerful thing they provide is a reminder of the power of the mind. It can be trained. Just as we learn to do things that work to dull the pain of emotions, problems and upsets (alcohol and drugs), it can be taught new habits, patterns and techniques for living and confronting all aspects of life. Non 12 step drug rehab centers offer cognitive therapy to 'unlearn' addictive behaviors. And once those behaviors have been addressed, non 12 step rehab programs teach precision skills and tools that shape new, pro-survival patterns, habits and attitudes.
You could say that many of the old-timers in our families were right when they said we could just "change your mind" and decide not to drink or use drugs. There has always been such a kernel of truth in that and we knew it when we heard it yet most of us failed despite best efforts.
Rather than succumbing to the belief that our failings are due to an incurable disease, non 12 step rehabs show us why this happens. After understanding why, these alternative rehab programs provide their patients with the ability to change their mind on all of that.
Over simplified, this is their secret. And it's one that I am glad to be let in on.
The message: Addiction is a disease.
Now, that would not be so bad if it were really true and if a workable 'treatment' for such a disease was readily available. But there is no real, effective treatment in most rehabs today. The standard disease model therapy adopted by 95% of all rehab centers across the US is 12 step. This, by statistics we can find at the AMA website and other medical journal studies, suggests a top end success rate of about 10%. That's beyond the definition of a failure. It's more in line with criminal deception.
How is it that placebos using sugar pills for nearly any other 'disease' record much higher success rates than 12 step? And where did this idea of drug and alcohol addiction as a disease come from? Most evidence points toward the psychiatric fields in medicine that lobbied over many years to gain equal mental health funding. Documents show a long and insidious campaign of using PR campaigns and redefinition of words in books, articles and other texts in order to put a new label on addiction.
And with that in mind, this indoctrination of addiction as a disease starts to make a bit more sense. Many other aspects of medical treatment in America have fallen for "there is more money is in the treatment than in the cure"; so why not drug rehab?
Calling the abuse of drugs or alcohol a disease opens a floodgate of funding from government aid, disability, insurance and other sources. This represents billions of dollars going toward mental health and pharmaceutical providers that otherwise would have never seen such revenue streams. Worse, because it is considered an incurable disease, people with addictions are constantly churning in the system in one form or another until they either overdose, wind up in jail or lose their lives to illness as a result of unhandled addictions.
Non 12 step rehab facilities are working to change all that.
Non 12 step drug rehab programs routinely document success rates that are somewhere in the neighborhood of 75-80%. The most powerful thing they provide is a reminder of the power of the mind. It can be trained. Just as we learn to do things that work to dull the pain of emotions, problems and upsets (alcohol and drugs), it can be taught new habits, patterns and techniques for living and confronting all aspects of life. Non 12 step drug rehab centers offer cognitive therapy to 'unlearn' addictive behaviors. And once those behaviors have been addressed, non 12 step rehab programs teach precision skills and tools that shape new, pro-survival patterns, habits and attitudes.
You could say that many of the old-timers in our families were right when they said we could just "change your mind" and decide not to drink or use drugs. There has always been such a kernel of truth in that and we knew it when we heard it yet most of us failed despite best efforts.
Rather than succumbing to the belief that our failings are due to an incurable disease, non 12 step rehabs show us why this happens. After understanding why, these alternative rehab programs provide their patients with the ability to change their mind on all of that.
Over simplified, this is their secret. And it's one that I am glad to be let in on.
After winning the battle with his own addictions, Mike Pastnor has since been an addiction counselor for non 12 step rehab centers to help others achieve the same level of success he has attained.